Ruleset Used In This App
Cuarenta
This app follows a documented two-player Ecuadorian Cuarenta ruleset based primarily on Pagat, cross-checked against the English Wikipedia summary. Variant details differ across cities and tables, so the sections below describe the exact choices this build uses and show worked examples for each one.
Deck And Goal
- The game uses 40 cards: A, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, J, Q, K in all four suits.
- The winner is the first player to reach 40 points.
You can see four aces, four queens, four kings, and number cards through 7. There are no 8s, 9s, or 10s anywhere in the deck.
If one player is at 38 and scores 2 with a valid caida, that player reaches 40 and wins the game immediately.
Deal And Turn Order
- Each deal gives 5 cards to each player.
- In a two-player game there are four 5-card deals per hand.
- In this app the dealer must explicitly click Deal before every 5-card batch.
- The table starts empty in this implementation. Cards only appear there through play.
- The player opposite the dealer plays first.
- At the start of the next hand, the deal passes to the other player.
Luis is dealer. Luis clicks Deal, both players receive 5 cards, and the first turn belongs to OdaBaby.
After both players finish those 10 cards, the next 5-card batch does not appear automatically. The dealer must press Deal again.
How Captures Work
- A played card may capture one or more table cards of the same rank.
- Cards A through 7 may also capture by addition when the chosen table cards add up to the played rank.
- After a valid capture, the sequence continues upward automatically while consecutive ranks exist on the table.
- Because this deck maps 8=J, 9=Q, 10=K internally, sequences continue naturally through J, Q, and K after 7.
- If no capture is made, the played card stays on the table.
You play a 4 while A and 3 are on the table. You may capture A+3 because 1+3=4. If a 5 is also on the table, the lift continues upward and captures that 5 too.
You play J while one J is on the table. You may take just that J, or that J plus Q and K if the upward sequence is present. If you do not capture, your J remains on the table.
Scoring Used Here
- Caida: 2 points when you immediately capture the card just left by the other player by matching it.
- Limpia: 2 points when your capture clears the table.
- Caida + limpia: still only 2 points total in this build.
- Ronda: 2 points, and it must be claimed manually with the ronda button.
- Four of a kind on the deal: immediate win.
- Thirty-eight rule: at 38, a player cannot close the game with limpia alone. They can still close with caida or by winning the cards count at the end of the hand.
Your opponent throws a 6. On your next turn you play another 6 and capture that just-played card immediately. That scores 2 points as a caida.
You are at 38 and make a limpia that would normally score 2. In this app that does not close the game by itself. You must still finish with another valid scoring path.
Scoring The Captured Cards
- Captured-card scoring is counted at the end of the full 40-card cycle.
- If a player captures 20 cards, they score 6 points.
- Above 20, scoring rises by 2 more points for every two extra cards: 21–22 scores 8, 23–24 scores 10, and so on.
- Both players can score carton in the same round if both totals are 20 or more.
- Total carton tracks all captured cards across the session, while countable carton tracks only 20+ card rounds.
If Luis captures 24 cards in a round, Luis scores 10 carton points for that round because 23–24 awards 10.
If OdaBaby captures 18 cards in round one, 21 in round two, and 22 in round three, total carton is 61 for the session, but countable carton is only 43 because only the 21 and 22-card rounds count toward carton scoring.
Known Variant Differences
- Some Quito and tournament descriptions use different values for ronda or special combinations.
- Some rulebooks structure the full match as multiple chicas or a mesa rather than a single race to 40.
- The advanced remembered-ronda bonus is not implemented in this build.
If you learned a local version where ronda scores differently, treat that as a variant and follow the app’s documented 2-point version while playing here.
If you are expecting a multi-chica match structure, note that this build resolves the session as a single race to 40 instead.